Chameleon Chaos (6 page)

Even with his fifteen-minute head start, most of the other boys arrived and got ready before Josh. When they all piled into the changing room after break and got their shoes, socks, and uniforms off and their PE shorts and T-shirts on, Josh was still slo—o—o—o—wly pulling his T-shirt over his head.

There was no sign of Danny when he eventually followed the others into the school hall, which doubled as a gym. It had a rack of climbing bars designed to be pulled out from one wall on wheels and fixed firmly into the floor with bolts. A vaulting box had been put out at one end of the hall, along with hula hoops and beanbags. Josh hoped his brother was OK—but he guessed he was probably having a little doze on the “sick kid
sofa” behind reception. Maybe they'd get Mom to come and collect him and take him home. Josh wished he'd done that mad eyeball thing too so they could
both
go. Trying to keep up with all these hyperactive kids was really taking it out of him! Hmmm … the mad eyeball made him think of something … what …? Nah. Josh yawned. It was gone.

“OK—girls down this end!” called out Miss Mellor, pointing to the vaulting box and hoops and beanbags. “And boys to the climbing frame and the ropes.” She got out her stopwatch and turned away to supervise the handing out of beanbags and hoops.

Josh sighed as all the boys rushed for the bars. Climbing the bars was quite fun. You could easily get up quite high and sit on them, swinging your legs about. But the four ropes which dangled along one stretch of the equipment were much harder. The thick twists of tight cord were heavy, weighed down with a knot at the bottom—and once you got your feet on the knot and reached up, there was no more help. You just had to pull yourself up with your hands, knees, and feet. Josh was rubbish at the ropes. He felt as if his limbs were made of weak, bendy wire whenever he tried. Danny was great at
it, but Josh just wasn't. And now that all the boys had beaten him to the bars, there was no space left except on the ropes. The ropes were all he could do.

“Need a hand, bug freak?” said a voice in his ear—and three seconds later, once again, he was upside down. There were hoots of laughter from other boys on the climbing bars as Billy Sutter and Jason Bilk grabbed him, flipped him over, and then wrapped one rope around each leg three times. Josh didn't even have time to shout as he hung there, his legs trapped in the ropes, his upended head swinging back and forth three feet above the gym mats.

He felt dizzy for a moment as Billy's face swung close and then far and then close again, grinning at him. “Baby want a push?” he mocked and shoved Josh in the chest so he swung harder. “Baby want another push?” Some of the other kids had noticed and were laughing at him. He felt his face turn beetroot red again.

Miss Mellor turned round and walked down to the boys' end of the hall, staring at her stopwatch. Billy and Jason suddenly leapt away from Josh and
ran toward the climbing bars with innocent expressions on their faces.

Josh was now dangling on just one rope. His left leg had shaken free of the other one. But he wasn't upside down any more. He was climbing the rope. Slowly but very, very surely. He had just become one of the best climbers in the school that day. He had also just become about a foot long—and grown a crest. And a horn on his nose.

Miss Mellor didn't notice. She just walked on toward the swinging ropes and then started yelling up at the boys on the bars to go up and down in races rather than just dangle there like lazy monkeys. None of them seemed to have noticed Josh's S.W.I.T.C.H. either.

Up on his rope, climbing steadily higher, Josh thought it was a shame that he wasn't going to get any
points for his brilliant achievement that day. But he realized this wasn't Miss Mellor's fault. She didn't have great eyesight anyway, and he was not only a fraction of the size he'd been five minutes ago—he was also beautifully camouflaged against the rope.

SO! Petty's chameleon S.W.I.T.C.H. spray did work!
Josh thought to himself. He looked at the pincer-like hand in front of him as it clenched the twisted cord of the rope and pulled him up. It was scaly and brilliantly efficient at grasping handholds. His arms were very strong and had no difficulty in hoisting his body weight higher, supported by equally strong and agile legs and a fabulous tail which wrapped around the rope and steadied him as he climbed. He was currently pale brown in color, but he knew this was only because he had S.W.I.T.C.H.ed while on the rope. With his amazing 360-degree eyeballs he could watch the rope above him and see the boys over on the bar, racing up and down it as Miss Mellor timed them. Two of the boys were looking a bit confused, though—and worried. Billy and Jason
kept glancing up and then around the room—then looking at each other with expressions which clearly said, “Where has the bug freak gone?”

Josh smiled and chuckled to himself. He wasn't sure why, but this was the most relaxing S.W.I.T.C.H. he'd ever had. He was really enjoying the feeling of strength that flowed through his reptilian muscles.
I'm a Meller's chameleon!
he realized, recognizing the horn on his nose and the crest along his spine.
I can grow up to two feet and I can change color and I can catch prey with my tongue! Woo-hoo! And … I can climb! I can REALLY climb. Chameleons are tree dwellers—they
hardly ever come down to the ground!
He just wished Danny were here to share all this information with him—even though he would almost certainly call him a nature nerd.

Hmmm—Danny. Josh paused in his climbing, and his eyeballs rolled in all directions, taking in the whole school hall. No sign of his twin. He guessed that Danny might also have S.W.I.T.C.H.ed by now. He could be anywhere. Maybe the receptionist was screaming or phoning for the RSPCA to come and collect his brother right now.

Josh carried on climbing. It seemed like the best thing to do. He was so high now he could see the ceiling tiles in great detail.
I've never climbed this high up before!
he marveled to himself. I
always tried to … but I always ended up sliding down
. He remembered the last time he'd really tried to get up the ropes. He'd made it as far as halfway, thanks to a boost from Danny when Miss Mellor wasn't looking—and then he'd just slid down and ended up with nasty rope burns on his arms and palms and the soles of his bare feet. Mom had put antiseptic cream on them when he got home.

Josh suddenly froze on the rope, just as it connected to the long metal rung. Wait a minute! Bare feet … burning … why was that familiar? In a flash, the clue from the Mystery Marble Sender was in his head.

CLUE 2: GO WHERE MANY FEET ARE BARE. RISE TO THE LIGHT. SLIP AND YOU WILL BURN.

Many bare feet! There were at least twenty-six pairs of bare feet running around this hall now! And if you slipped on the rope (if you weren't a chameleon, of course) you would get rope burns! And … rise to the light? He tilted back his horned nose and rolled his eyeballs towards the ceiling. He was rising all right.
And
there were lights up here. Six of them!

He felt a surge of excitement in his scales as much as in his heart. They seemed to ripple and go a little pink. The hall light shades were square and flat, like shallow boxes made of white glass, hanging from metal struts. Once a year the caretaker got up on a special ladder to empty out all the dead moths and flies which collected in them. You could easily hide a marble in one.

Josh climbed onto the thick metal bar and made his way along to the far end of the frame. The nearest light was quite close by. He could almost reach across … Below him, the PE lesson went on. The thuds and shouts and Miss Mellor's shrill whistle made his head vibrate a little, but he wasn't really aware of this—his eyes were fixed on the white glass shade. Chameleons have very good eyesight for reptiles, he remembered, hunting with stealth, using their excellent telescopic eyes. And now he used his excellent telescopic eyes on the light shade. He could climb across to it—but it might be dangerous. At least it wasn't hot. The day was bright, and none of the lights were on. And now, tantalizingly, he could see something. Something round and shiny with a little blade of red rippling through it. It
was
the marble! He could see it clearly in the middle of the shade.